1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a quantum computer. More specifically, to a method and structure which locates a qubit at a node of a qubit basic operational frequency on control and readout transmission lines, so as to minimize decoherence caused by these control and readout functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of entities, including the assignee of the present Application, are in the process of designing, developing, and building computers that use the quantum mechanical state of a physical system to represent the logical state of the computer. Such a computer is called a “quantum computer” and the logical gates in such a computer are called “qubits”.
A quantum computer would be able to solve certain types of problems far more rapidly than any conceivable classical computer. For example, such tasks as searching, encryption, and searching a large database for the optimal solution to a multidimensional optimization problem, such as the well-known “traveling salesman” problem, would be orders of magnitude faster on a quantum computer.
The reason for this drastic increase in capability is that, in an ordinary classical computer, the logical state of the computer is represented by “0”s and “1”s, or in other words, the classical states of a physical system. Therefore, the basic logic gate in the classical computer stores a single bit of information. In contrast, a qubit simultaneously stores multiple bits of information.
A fundamental problem in making a qubit is that of minimizing the effects of the environment on the quantum mechanical state of the qubit. This effect is similar to that of noise in a conventional circuit, such as a basic logic gate, in that sufficient noise will cause a conventional logic gate to toggle to a new and possibly unknown state.
The small size, the quantum mechanics involved, and the plurality of possible states (e.g., the plurality of bits of information) all combine to cause a qubit to be particularly sensitive to “noise” such as temperature and stray magnetic fields.
A partial solution is to operate the qubit at a very cold temperature, typically less than 0.1 K. In this way, the thermal noise that the qubit experiences is reduced.
Also, the qubit itself is usually designed to have very little internal dissipation. In this way, direct coupling of the qubit to the thermal noise of the environment is minimized.
The noise in the environment causes “decoherence”, or reduction of the magnitude or duration of the qubit signal. Thus, decoherence must be minimized in order to make a high quality qubit, which is needed for making a quantum computer.
A second type of decoherence occurs when electrical circuits and signals are applied to the qubit. A qubit could be designed to be totally isolated from the environment. But, unless its state can be modified or measured using external circuits, the qubit will be of little use.
The most common method to modify the qubit state and measure the state is by the use of electrical signals. Unfortunately, the sources of these electrical signals and the measuring circuits also inherently have thermal and quantum noise, and this noise will decohere the qubit. Therefore, the couplings of these signals to the qubit are usually designed to be weak, in order to minimize the decoherence from the control and readout circuits.
So far, there has not been a satisfactory solution for this inherent decoherence problem of qubits.